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TR: No Lions, or Tigers, but BEARS – OH MY!!


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Gonna start out on a downer, but will get more positive, I promise !

 

So I have many friends from all over the Country (and World), but some of my best friends, are folks that I’ve met when going to Dragon*con in Atlanta (which I’ve been attending for nearly 20 years).

 

The folks I’m closest to from Dragon*con are “the Canadians” – Marcella & Neal, and Ricky, whom I met the 1st time I went, who are from Vancouver, although there are others in this wonderful group (that has grown to include Anjeanne from Louisiana, whom we met with her late husband Roy many years back). I look forwards to seeing them every year, and other than a specialty occasion – perhaps a wedding – I don’t get to see them but once a year in Atlanta.

 

So a few years back, Marcella and Ricky started raving about Arno’s Bear Cruises, a subset of Bears/bear-lovers/bear-family, and just positive gay-friendly people who travel together as a group, and have a great time. They kept asking Nick and I to join them on one of the bi-yearly cruises that Arno does.

 

We’re not really “theme-cruise” folks, and felt it likely wasn’t for us, even tho what Arno does are not “gay cruises” – again his group is open to all who want to have fun together, and he books travel on a larger ship, but plans his own activities for the group, but leaves plenty of free time for individual exploration of the ship – we passed on the trip with the excuse that the sailings were out of Florida, and we’re in Austin, Texas. (nevermind that our friends are flying from Vancouver, BC to get to Florida.. . the distance from Texas to Florida made us balk).

 

So flash back to a year ago November, and Marcella pings me and notes that the Feb 2017 cruise by Arno will be sailing out of Galveston. AND the downpayment was almost nothing, and the balcony cabin price was a great deal, and if we booked with him early we’d get onboard credit. . . . and that both She & Neal, and Ricky and his Mom, were coming. . and we really had no reason to not say yes, so we did. As did Anjeanne. . . and Arno placed us not only all next to each other on the same deck, but put us at the same seating for dinner as requested. . so it was like hanging out with friends every day and we knew we’d make new ones (which we definitely did!).

 

All was set and the countdown started, and we planned to go to Houston to visit my parents for the day before the cruise, and then leave the car at their house, and we’d stay with the group at hotel and we’d all caravan down to Galveston together for the Cruise, and then after the cruise, we’d stay in Houston for an extra day to visit Mom & Dad.

 

And the trip got closer, and Excursions at the ports (Roatan, Belize, Cozumel) got planned, and costumes for the theme parties started coming together. . .

 

And my Mom collapsed on Christmas Eve 2016 and was ambulanced to St Luke’s Hospital in Houston.

 

She was at St. Lukes for weeks as they tried to get her back up on her feet, but problem after problem kept coming up, and she was missing her Chemo (that had been keeping the bone cancer at bay),and We / I was driving often to Houston to see her, and she appeared to be getting better.

 

But then she took as sudden turn for the worse, they decided to move her from St. Luke’s to Hospice care, and she passed 5 days later on 1/26/17, with myself, my Brother, and my Dad at her side.

 

I was (and still am), crushed. . But one of the last things Mom said to me while she was still conscious was “I’m sorry I’m screwing up your trip” and “you need to still go”.

 

Something my Dad echoed, so we decided we aren’t going to cancel, because Mom didn’t want us to.

 

A dear friend, Rod, took my Mom’s wedding photo (I had posted on FB), and made us Pins we could wear, and since one of the theme party was “Red Hat Day at the Pool” and Mom was a member of the Red Hat Ladies, Dad told me I could take some of her hats with us on the cruise to wear in her honor.

 

So after the Celebration of her life on 2/11, we headed back to Austin packed up the bags, and headed back to Houston on 2/18 to begin our week with the Bears!

 

Pre-cruise Day 1.

 

We got up early and brought the dog for Boarding (with Medical boarding, we knew it would be expensive), and drove to my Dad’s in Houston to get there by 11am.

 

He was very happy to see us, and had agreed that we would park the explorer in the Garage, and he would leave his car in the driveway while we were gone (it would have been fine for us to leave our car out, but he’s 80, and we didn’t want him driving something bigger than what he’s used to, so we pulled into the garage and he parked behind us so if he had to run errands during the week, he could take his car). We visited for a bit (and he told the same stories we’d been hearing for a few weeks.. but I get it, he’s grieving, so we just let him tell the stories again), and then we talked him into going to IHOP for Breakfast – he hadn’t been eating and had dropped almost 30lbs since Mom had went into the hospital. We got him to eat, and after a little more visiting, he asked if we were ready to go to the hotel?

 

Arno had booked the Hilton Americas near the Convention Center/MinuteMaid Park in Houston as the pre-cruise hotel, and that’s where the Busses from to the Galveston Port were going to be leaving from. As a bonus, many, MANY things had opened up there just 3 weeks prior, in preparation for the Superbowl that had just happened, so there were a lot of options on things to do Sat. night.

 

It was still only 1pm, but he seemed ready to get us going, so he dropped us at the Hotel (15 minutes from the house), and we checked in with no issues. The room was nice, tho the view wasn’t much. Still, a very nice hotel with both a Starbucks and a Pappacito’s (Mexican food chain) in the lobby.

 

We went to check in with Arno (VERY nice man), who was in one of the Conference rooms, where we picked up our welcome goody bags – bright blue (and huge) towels with his logo, lanyards, laminated “multi-pass” namebadges (to allow us access to the parties), laminated schedules, and flavored popcorn!, all in logoed backpacks. We also picked up our armbands for the excursions we had booked thru him (thru RCCL) for excursions just for his group.

 

We hung out there, and within moments, found the Canadians! (Nick had met Marce & Neal at their wedding, and they had come to ours, but he had only met Ricky a long time prior and had never met Anjeanne. . tho I knew they’d hit it off – spoiler. . they did!).

 

We hugged hello, made plans to meet up for dinner later, since they had been at the hotel since Friday and had been out seeing Houston most of the day) and we went up the room to rest. But I was antsy, I didn’t want to just sit in the room. . . I wanted to people watch and see who we could see from the group (which ended up having ~320 members gay/lesbian/straight/men/women/uncles!. . such a wonderfully diverse group). We sat outside the hotel lobby and chatted with folks walking by. . . for the most part, we could tell who was with our group, and who was there for the wedding happening that evening, or who was there for the masked Heart’s Ball also happening that evening.

 

We started talking to a gentleman named Marty, who was part of our group, but travelling alone on his 1st cruise, and we invited him to dinner with us that night (and we all ended up hanging out together many times on the ship too), and just chatted and relaxed until dinner time.

 

The group had planned a bar-night out in Houston at a club called the Ripcord, but none of us were interested in going, since we all had the Deluxe Drink Package and knew we’d be drinking tons on the ship and interacting with the rest of the group anyways, so with the addition of another Canadian we met for the 1st time, Adric, the 9 of us headed across the street to Pappadeaux’s (owned by the same folks that own the Mexican place, but this one specializes in seafood/Cajun cuisine). I was very surprised they could take a walk in party this big on a Sat. night – this chain is POPULAR, but was reminded that they had just opened a few weeks prior, and word hadn’t spread yet they were there

 

So we were seated at a table, and all ordered drinks, and are having a grand old time. . . and then the waiter mis-judges the balance of the tray as he puts down some water, and the whole tray (full) of waters crashes on the floor next to us and splatters a couple of us with water.

 

The hostess, the manager, and waiter are all horrified, but of course we’re all laughing, because no one was hurt, and it was SO loud. The Manager apologized, and I said it was fine. Then I joked it wasn’t an issue since it was just water, not mixed drinks that spilled, but what do we get to make up for it?”

She came back after they cleaned up the mess on the floor (it was a lot of water) and wiped us down and asked us what we wanted, and we said nothing, we had been kidding, they didn’t need to comp us anything as we were going to order food not water anyways and expected to pay full cost. She went away again, but then after a bit came back with like 6 of the appetizers from the menu and set them across the table. Seriously, it was easily over $70 worth of appetizers. . . we ate them, and then were so full most of us weren’t able to finish our mains. . .but this is great customer service, and I highly recommend Pappadeaux for both the food, and the way they chose to handle things, if you are ever in Houston.

 

And yes, we all tipped ~40% each on our tabs, since they hadn’t charged us for the free apps -- *and* I asked to make sure no penalty was removed from the waiter’s pocket for the slip.

 

We hung out eating and drinking for a couple of hours, then full, fat, and happy, and still laughing at the loud crash, we made our way back across the street to the hotel, and crashed to get ready to be up in the morning to get on the buses to head to Galveston, and the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas!

 

Next: day1

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the lanyards with our Multipasses

 

(the big party was themed to the 5th Element.. so we all had Multipass IDs).

 

you can see on the Lanyards, the buttons that Rod made of my Mom. . . .she was with us everyday all over the ship!

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schedule for Arno's Group, page 1

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schedule for Arno's Group, page 2

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with Dad at IHOP, a pic I took to respond to a text from Anjeanne asking why we weren't at the Hotel yet

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we found the Canadians!

 

Left to right: Neal (Vancouver), Anjeanne (Lousiana), Nick (Tx), Me (Tx), and Marcella (Vancouver)

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view from our room at Hilton Americas

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"Wear your singlet, if you dare."

 

 

Good one. Great start to your cruise, Bert!

 

And by the way, what are the other two pins on one of the lanyards?

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"Wear your singlet, if you dare."

 

 

Good one. Great start to your cruise, Bert!

 

And by the way, what are the other two pins on one of the lanyards?

 

two more buttons of Mom. .

 

the last time I saw her not in Hospital (Halloween 2016)

and the ABC Islands cruise, it's with her, me and my Brother, tho I'm 70lbs heavier in the pic.

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Day 1

 

Can’t recall what time we were supposed to meet for the bus, but it was fairly early. . and for most folks, that meant getting up even earlier than early (we were all excited and ready to get to the ship. . Arno had 3 buses of folks going to the Ship Port from the hotel, but there were lots of other folks in our group that were meeting us on the ship, honestly, I dunno how he deals with that without ripping all his hair out. . . . maybe that’s why he keeps it so short).

 

So down to the Hotel lobby we went, and met up with our friends, and all the new friends we hadn’t really met yet, and went out to the bus area, and got to stand out in the overcast morning, and line up to enjoy the smell of Houston (smelled like leftover spaghetti, bus fumes, and just a hint of Patchouli) :p

 

tho the group was lined up across the whole side of the hotel, with space for 2 buses at a time to pull in, the bus would only load from the lead spot. . so even tho we were out there early, we were on the far right, and ended up not even getting close to getting on the 1st or 2nd buses – which was fine, no hurry, we’d all get there eventually.

 

3rd bus pulls up, and I can’t recall the name, but it was a “punny” masculine name, and we joked that we were on the BEAR-Y bus. Everyone got settled, we got going on our way, and started down to Galveston. . . . and a little more than 2/3rds of the say, the bus starts making a noise. A familiar noise.

 

Nick looks at me, and says “oh no, that’s the sound the bus made in Vegas”, (many years ago, right before we broke down on the way to the Grand Canyon and were stranded on the side of the road for 5 hours). I said to him, “DON’T SAY THAT.. you’ll make it happen”. . and as I say that we hear the gears slipping, and we’re not accelerating, and we slowly glide to the shoulder on the Highway to Galveston.

 

The whole bus sort of groans, but unlike typical me, I didn’t freak out.

 

I realized that Arno was on our bus, and they weren’t gonna leave without him, so didn’t panic! The driver tried a few things, but didn’t seem be having much luck. . . and there was chatter on the bus that maybe he was just going slowly to get closer to Galveston and the charter service would send one of the earlier buses back to get us?

 

But it turned out that we had an *excellent* driver, who knew how to get around the issue, and tho we moved a little slower than I’m sure he would have liked, we got to the Galveston Bridge, over the Galveston Bridge, and to the Cruise Port withougt breaking down! So good job, and we gave him a good tip for getting us there!

 

Then it was across the parking lot to drop off the checked bags

 

Ricky had warned me that several things I had in my checked luggage might cause RCCL to hold them and force me to go pick the bags up on the ship at some point the next day once the things were “confiscated”, so I had repacked a few things into the carry-on the night before, so we would have collared shirts, and long pants for the first night’s dinner just in CASE our bags got held. It turned out that I needn’t have bothered – the chainmail, the (real) horns, the Chrome Mask (with sharp edges) and even the bottles of 5hour energy drink that I had forgotten were in the suitcase from Dragon*con and had moved to the carryon, so if I had to toss them, I could. . . made it thru and onto the ship without anyone even blinking an eye! I guess they were only looking for smuggled alcohol, but since we had drink package, we didn’t even bother bringing on our own sodas. . .LOL

 

After dropping off the luggage, we got into the line, that then went into another line, that then went into another line (we were talking about how it’s like Space Mountain, you think you finally are at the ride, and then. . more line!), to check in, and then go onto the ship. Of course, once we were checked in, we were told we can put everything away except for our SeaPass, and yet the *one* line we went to once boarding the ship made us show passports again – something was going on w/ the cameras and everyone had to retake the photos w/ the SeaPass.. but none of the other lines required passports. So we had a slow line, and I had to dig back into the carryon to find everything (again). . . . whatever. . we were finally on the ship, and the rooms were already open! So we went to drop the stuff in the room, before going to grab lunch, as it was already afternoon and we hadn’t eaten yet! (while Marcella and Anjeanne went directly to the Spa to book appointments).

 

We got to our room, and almost bypassed it as there was a big “Happy Anniversary” magnet on the door.

We thought it had been left over from the prior sailing, but it turned out that Marcella and Neal had gotten us the “Happy Anniversary” package thru RCCL to give us a happy memory of our Anniversary, as we hadn’t really celebrated it, since it was just before Mom passed (our anniversary is 1/23 , and Mom passed on 1/26).

 

I know. . awwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

the package included hanging Mobiles in the room (which we quickly had to move off to the sides, as they really showed the motion of the ship, and we were worried about seasick), a hanging photo rail, a cling on the mirror, a picture frame to take home, and a pair of Love mugs and hot chocolate. So sweet of them both, and so much appreciated!

 

We stupidly didn’t even think about taking pictures of the magnet on the door, and we really should have since someone stole it on day 4 (prolly some of the “non-bear” folks on the ship!). . LOL. . I was lost that night and walked right by the room twice, since I had been looking for the magnet! Then someone showed me the room number is on your SeaPass, just not which deck.. that saved me for the rest of the cruise. But I do have pics of the Picture Frame/Mugs, and the Mobiles in the background of a pic of Nick showing off the room.

 

The shower was teeny tiny, and was like Star Trek transporter tube, but luckily I had lost so much weight, that I didn’t’ feel super claustrophobic in there!

 

our Stateroom housekeeper was a wonderful woman named Arlene, and although she wasn’t very good with the towel animals (you’ll see from some of the pics), we really liked her and she was willing to right away open up the balcony dividers between Marce/Neal on our left, and Anjeanne/Marg on our right, so we had a 3 wide balcony. . . and by the 3rd day we had befriended Gerald (Room next to Anjeanne/Marg) and Robbie/Tim (Room next to Gerald) and had Arlene open those dividers too. . so we had a 5 wide balcony for most of the cruise, which was quite nice and felt really open.

 

We went up to the Windjammer, and ate the one time lunch we actually had at the Buffet (tho we ended there at least once more for breakfast) with Marce & Neal, and then set out to explore the ship (some of the folks in our group were already at the pool, and we hadn’t even left the port yet!).

 

After the Muster Drill, we headed up to the top deck for the sailaway, and as we pulled out we passed Seawolf Park, a place in Galveston Mom & Dad used to take us to, to go fishing when we were young. . it also has a ship you can go on and a submarine you can climb thru, as well as a pyramid shaped pavilion we used to scale the sides of. I hadn’t thought of that place for well over 35 years, and yeah, that made me miss Mom, and I got a little upset.

 

So we went to the bar and got drinks.. Pina Colada’s and Mai Tais. . . what really distracted me tho was the gentleman sitting on a deck chair, while talking to his wife watching the sail away, and hiking his leg up. . his shorts (and lack of undies) leaving absolutely NO question as to his religion.

 

I was classy enough not to take a picture, but shady enough to point it out to anyone in our group who was near us, and to mention it now. . as it was FUNNY.

and either it was really just too chilly on the top deck, or I feel bad for his wife . . hehe.

 

Once we sailed away, we explored the ship, and went back to the room to change for dinner. All the luggage had arrived by this point, so we took the time to unpack everything and change (tho we didn’t need to, there were shorts and tank tops in the main dining room several nights), and then headed to dinner.

 

we had 8pm seating, so that meant done by 10pm most nights. . . so after an exhausting day, I went back to the room with Nick, and he laid down (he was starting to have some MS flares, which would keep up for several days on the trip, but he did have some fun as they calmed down a bit), and I went to the “Pub Crawl” which turned into the “Pub Stay”.. since instead of hitting on the bars on the ship, everyone stayed in the bar we started at, the Schooner Bar, listening to a so-so piano player doing bad Johnny Cash covers for a small group of straight folks who were clapping along, and a TON of bears, who pretty much ignored him and overwhelmed all the bartenders.. tho they did catch up pretty quickly.

 

Why did I stay? Well, it’s way more fun to make fun of the bad music, than to just wander around trying to find better music (see? Shade!).

 

The piano playing did get really good for a while. . . LOL but it turned out that was Sam, a guy travelling with our group who does that for a living, and sat down between sets and played for a bit. HE was great.

 

At one point, Christopher and I decided to wander up to the Olive & Twist Disco/Bar on Deck 14 just to check it out (since at one point, our group was going to take it over on Thursday night, before the ship moved Arno to Studio B for the whole evening).. . Christopher’s assessment of the place still cracks me up.

 

“tragic . . . and full of (20 or so) straight people who ain’t gonna get laid tonight”

 

HA! (they *were* doing some terrible “dancing” to tejano music up in there when we went by)

 

And with that, I called it a night, as we had been up since early, so instead of heading back to Schooner bar, I headed down to our room to go to sleep.

 

 

Next: Days 2/3 – Sea Days . . White Party, Ultra Nate’ performance, Red Hat Day. . .

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Marce, Neal, Nick and Marg (Ricky's Mom) waiting for the bus

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the bears on the bus go wOOf wOOf wOOf. . .

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This is Arno.

 

I told him to "act bear-y". . . this was his response. . . LOL

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da ship, da ship!

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oooo.. pretty.

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this line is deceptively "short". . . .

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Seawolf Park from sailaway

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Seawolf park

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Marce and Neal at windjammer.

 

and yes, his shirt DOES say: "Just a Pirate chasing Booty"

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sitting down to eat at Windjammer. . . sheesh, I'll never learn selfies from this angle don't look good on me.

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Central Park area of the ship from our Deck (7)

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Muster Drill

 

(as Nick likes to point out, photo snapped seconds after they told people not to take pictures and to pay attention. . I didn't hear it, really)!

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Sail Away from top deck.

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Part of the Anniversary package that Marce and Neal got us (pic taken when we got home)

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it's a bit chilly for us, but Ricky and Adric are already in the pool (this is the Adult pool, of course, where our group spent most of the time . . I'm not sure many of us went to the central pool or those 3 hot tubs at all). .

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not a lot of folks in the pool, so wanted to get a pic where it's fairly empty :)

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Finally. . . yes, we like Pina Colada

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Walking up to upper deck for sail away drinks

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going back to the room to change for dinner

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you can see the Happy Anniversary mobiles hanging to the left and behind on the right. . . we moved them to the corners, they had been hanging right over the bed. kinky.

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THIS was in the hallway on the deck where many of our group were staying.

 

Guess they knew we were coming! :p

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Wandering around a bit after dinner, but before the "Pub Crawl"

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Loved these guys. . and the guy in the tie dye is an EXACT twin of my best friend in Austin, Russell. . tho if it was Russell, the tie dye and jeans would both be riddled with holes :)

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Anjeanne, Neal, and Marce at our table.. we were kind of stuck in the corner, next to the serving station. Which was not super "nice". . however behind me is a giant porthole, and we kind of got a kick out of being in our own area with (as I called them) the "twins of lesbos" watching us from the portraits.

 

Our table had almost everyone there every night. . so we had some fun :)

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Ricky and Me. . in a stealth pic from Nick sitting next to me.

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Day 2 (Sea Day)

 

Despite having gone to bed fairly late, I was up rather early, and Nick was too, so I talked him into going to the MDR for breakfast, since I didn’t want to do the buffet (even tho the times for buffet were something like until 11am, and MDR only served from 7-8:30).

 

But I wanted Eggs Benedict (my favorite) which meant going to the MDR, so we headed down there, and we had an OK breakfast. The Eggs Benedict were overcooked (the yolks not runny at all) as were the ones on the tables next to us, and both other times we went to MDR. I was told I could send it back and ask for runny yolk, but it wasn’t’ worth the effort, the Hollandaise wasn’t broken, so it was good enough, although really. . they should know how to make a damn poached egg for Eggs Benedict. (breakfast 101 for a cruise ship kitchen).

 

Oh well. . . the breakfast options were still better than it would be in the Windjammer Buffet, as we discovered later in the trip) – only exception being the Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. . worth going to the buffet breakfast just for that!

 

We took the opportunity of being up so early to fully explore the ship, going from deck to deck, checking out everything. I really wanted to know where some of our groups meeting places were so we wouldn’t have trouble finding them later. . . as due to the long open promenade down the center of the ship, there were some decks that simply didn’t go thru. . for example, you could only get to Studio B from the back elevators on level 3.

 

Speaking of elevators, I realize it’s due to the design of the ship, but it struck me as so odd that there were only two banks of 7 elevators (8 at rear of ship, since those went up to Deck 14 disco / Deck 15 prayer room) and only stairs here as well. I realize a Cruise ship is really safe, but it was a little disarming to realize that if there was an emergency, everyone in the middle of this huge ship would have to go all the way forwards, or all the way back to get to stairs/elevators. I guess if it’s a major emergency, one could always escape off balcony too, but still. . . a little weird.

 

We had booked a balcony cabin, and with that came a free upgrade to a specially restaurant, so when we boarded the ship yesterday, we went ahead and booked this evening’s dinner at Giovanni’s Table, the “family style” upcharge Italian restaurant. We hadn’t realized that it was going to be the 1st Formal night (which typically means better food in the MDR for Dinner), but we decided that it was fine, we’d dress up for Giovanni’s anyways, and since our reservation was at 6, we’d then head down to the MDR for the 8pm seating (so I could have the lobster bisque, a favorite) and socialize with the rest of our table during dinner/coffee/deserts.

 

As we were exploring the ship, we bumped into Sam Sampson, the Musician/Minister who had sat down at he piano last night in the Schooner bar, and his husband (edit: BILL, his Hubby is Bill). I took the opportunity to tell him how much I had enjoyed his playing and we stood and chatted for a bit. They asked us for our opinions on the specialty restaurants, since they too had a free upgrade, and we mentioned that had reservations for the 6pm seating at Giovannis, and were going to socialize in MDR after. They asked if it would be ok to join us for dinner, since they didn’t really know anyone on the cruise, and of course we said yes. . . .besides, it’s served Family style, so 4 is likely better than 2 at a dinner like that. They went off to make reservations, and we continued on.

 

Anyways, after touring the ship (including the beautiful bar with the Chihuly glass type sculptures embedded in the walls, and the new mini-golf they put on the top front of the ship), we changed into our swimsuits, and went to the pool for the 11am Bear Pool time. (no pics, since we didn’t have our phones with at the pool the first time).

 

The group was out in force, and there was “bear soup” in the pool (a term for when the pool is more bear than water . . LOL), and bears in the adult hot tubs – which jutted out over the sides of the ship, so you could feel like you were floating over the ocean. . I loved em.

 

We spent a good couple of hours at the pool today, visiting with friends and making lots of new ones. The bar staff kept everyone happy, and it’s funny, despite the big “no drinks in the pool” signs, the waiters were coming to the pool to take drink orders, and bringing our drinks back to us IN the pool. So A+ on service from RCCL.

 

This being the first day, there were lots of “looky-loos” who came over the pool on Deck 12 to stare down and all the guys (and a few gals) in our group, some just hanging out and gawking and taking pictures. Didn’t bother me. .my philosophy is that if someone doesn’t want to get to know me? Shame on them, not shame on me.

 

The highlights of this 1st pool day for me were:

 

1) meeting some guys who it turns out live about 10 minutes away (Hi Eric and Mike if you’re reading this), so hopefully some good friendships, or at least going out to dinner friendships were formed here.

 

2) the very, very sweet older lady, who stopped at the top step of the pool, and leaned down to ask “are ladies allowed to come in this pool?”

Several guys (including me) enthusiastically told her YES! and she joined us and seemed to have a great time talking to everyone. And funnily enough, she had a little cat claw tattoo on her shoulder that we told her was close enough that it made her an honorary bear.

 

The Ship was doing the Ice Show, I think it was called “Encore”, in Studio B on this day (2 perfomances) and since we had to go to Studio B later that night for the White Party anyways, I wanted to see how the place was laid out. So we reluctantly got out of the pool, and went back to the room to change so we could make the afternoon Ice Show.

 

We got there about 30 minutes early, just as the doors opened, and it was basically a small indoor arena skating rink with lots of seating. So we sat along the side of the rink, so we’d have a good view, and the place really did fill up.

 

The Show was good, and it was supposedly a “tour around the world”. . which translated to skating in different kinds of costumes -- although at one point I turned to Nick and said they should just dump the around the world theme and stick to the actual skating, which was good, but got distracting due to the somewhat silly costumes in some places.

 

In particular when they went to the “British Invasion” and we got “rock and roll skaters” to the songs of the Stones & the Who. . . although that DID produce a highlight for both Nick and I as the two *very* straight guys who were sitting across the rink from us with their wives, and had looked miserable the whole show (they got dragged to ice skating!) perked right up and seriously were high-fiving each other (and they were sitting in the two outer seats with the wives in the center) and loudly signing along. . WITH air guitar to “Pinball Wizard” when that segment started. . LOL

 

As noted tho the show was very good, and I could see why it’s been playing for a long time on RCCL. We even enjoyed that along with all the thin skaters (and a really impressive acrobat who did a rings act on skates), there was one “thick” male skater. . . awww. . I’d like to think they added a thicker skater just for us bears.

 

(I know they didn’t.. there were a few places where RCCL could have stepped up for our group, and tho I’m sure they worked with Arno to provide us a great time, they certainly fell short in a few areas of Customer Service. . .hell, I’d say my biggest complaint, if I had to have one, is that the Cruise Director never once – the whole trip – stopped by any of the Arno’s group functions, or introduce himself to our group at a meet and greet. I found that shameful, and really should have said something to him when he was waving goodbye to everyone as we exited thru Customs on Sunday. . but whatever. . had a great time regardless).

 

ANYWAYS. . the show was good, we liked it. . we stopped and got some Vanilla Café Latte at the Promenade Café on the way up the room, and went to relax on the balcony and change for dinner.

 

I love dressing up, but common sense kicked in, and at the last minute, I removed the full tux, and Nick’s 2nd suit from the luggage. They simply weren’t needed, and tho I would have enjoyed it, it worked out just fine not having them. We got ourselves all fancy-like, and headed up to Giovanni’s for our 6pm reservation, where we met Sam and his hubby.

 

The dining room is beautiful, and the service was spot on, attentive, and friendly, and the food was across the board fantastic. Highly recommended as a place to dine.

 

Now, keep in mind we were with a Bear Group. . . Sam and Husband Bill are not “twink” men, and so with 4 of us eating dinner, we should have seen this one coming – especially after a couple from our group warned us when coming in how much food it was. . . .but dang it, if they didn’t bring us the ENTIRE left side of the menu! (before we got our individual mains).

 

OMG the food kept coming. And coming. And coming.

 

And these are all large, shareable plates

(yes, I just looked up the menu to be sure I was remembering everything):

 

Focaccia

Carpaccio

Antipasti plate (with salami, proscuutto, anchovies, artichokes, olives, cheese, and much more

Caprese Salad

Almond crusted Scallops and fried Octopus

Eggplant Parm.

 

And then the pastas for the table came out – big bowls of ALL six of them:

Gnocchi

Pappadelle in cream w/ pancetta

Mushroom Risotto

Penne pasta with shrimp and brandy sauce

Beef Ravioli

Traditional Marinara pasta

 

We were SO full. . and the mains hadn’t even come out yet! Nick & Bill had the Giant Prawns, Sam had the Fillet Mignon, and I had the Ossobuco. . none of us were able to finish our mains even it was so much food.

 

And the waiter suggested we try deserts, since they make them special , and they have the traditional Tiramisu which is more mousse than cake, and served in a glass, so I said OK, and everyone else ordered a small scoop of ice cream (or nothing). . . remember, we were still going up to MDR to socialize!

 

The deserts were just the right amount that we weren’t making ourselves sick, and before we can get up to leave the Maître D comes over with a HUGE slice of super rich chocolate on chocolate on chocolate cake in celebration of our Anniversary (I guess they got the note about that being on our room, since we book with room #). I made everyone share it. .but man was that rich and way too much.

 

And of course, we were going to the White Party in a few hours, and I wasn’t going to be wearing a lot, and I just ate a meal for 6 by myself. . typical. . LOL

 

We waddled out of the restaurant, and it was right at 8pm, so time to go down 6 levels to the MDR to join our table. . . .

 

We said our evenings to Sam and hubby as they sat down at a table and went to our assigned table to visit and admire all the formal attire.

I’m ashamed to admit I did order the lobster bisque appetizer. . . but for the most part just drank coffee while we socialized with the rest of the table.

 

It likely had to do with how much food we ate at Giovanni’s, or maybe just that we had gotten up so early. . . but Nick started to feel unwell while we were visiting at the 8pm dinner.

 

I could tell he was starting to have trouble with his eyes, and his MS flares manifest by trouble walking and really bad “zig-zagging” with his eyes. He kept telling me he was doing ok, but by the time dinner was over and we headed back to the rooms to change for white party, he was struggling with balance and had gotten really short with me (another sign he’s not feeling well).

 

That well and truly sucked, as it was only the first full day of the cruise, and we had the big party that night, that we had and outfit for him to wear (a white bolero jacket over a white t-shirt of Yoda wearing pink sunglasses) 

 

I tried to convince him that he should at least come for a little bit, but once we got back to the room that was it for him, and he said I should go and have fun, and he was going to turn in early and hope the flares would stop. Since we were next door to friends, it’s not like I had to walk alone down to the party, so I reluctantly agreed, and got changed for the White Party.

 

MY “outfit” was my chainmail tank-top, over white shorts, with my leather goat horn headdress. . . tho since the chainmail is basically like walking around naked (it’s funny, when wearing it and you look down, you feel fully covered up, but when you see a pic. . it’s like “hmmm. . .i’m not wearing a shirt”. . LOL) I had brought a Keith Haring print wrap that I put over it and we headed down to the White Party. . with DJ Marcos, and live entertainment from Ultra Nate’ at midnight!

 

Lots of folks asked me about Nick, but still managed to have a good time, visiting and dancing with new friends to Marcos’ music. It only took a few minutes until a friend (Eric) gifted me glowing nipple covers (ala Fembot) to show under my chainmail. . but those only lasted long enough for me to realize they would look better on Marcella in her Nurse outfit, so I re-gifted! EVERYONE’S a Fembot . . LOL

 

We were all dancing on the floor covering the ice rink, but it was still very slippery in places. We lucked out and were dancing towards the back of the rink, near where Marcos was spinning, so when the lights went out and Ultra Nate’ stepped out to perform, she was literally 5 feet from us! (got some great pics). She was in some amazing high heels, but moved very well in them considering the moving ship and slippery floor!. She even came down into the crowd and danced along with some of us (me included) while she was singing.

 

If you watch videos some shot of her performance, you can spot me in the front row, due to the horns bouncing along to the music.

 

Not much else to say about the party other than it was a blast (and you can see how much fun we had in the pics below).

the Crowd seemed to stay until ~1am before starting to thin a bit, and I walked with Ricky back to the room by 1:20am to find Nick was still awake (he was in pain, but he was also having trouble sleeping with me not there. . .awwwwwwwww). So I advised him to take some Tylenol PMs, and we both tried to go to sleep, eventually conking out around 3am.

 

Oh, and we were still in the gulf at this point, so the water was a bit rough, so that didn’t help with falling asleep either.

 

This ended up longer than I thought, so next up will be Day 3 w/ Red Hat Day.

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Looking up from the Royal Promenade (Deck 5) at the front of the ship.

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Walking along the Royal Promenade from the Main Dining Room (from the back end of the ship).

 

They had "parties" with disco balls, and light shows, and bands overhead during the nights in this space, and zumba classes in the mornings.

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ceiling design in Royal Promenade

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deck 4 bar detail

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Deck 4 bar detail

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the bar with the Chihuly type glass on Deck 4

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Slightly blurry pic of Nick at the Schooner bar from Sunday night that got mixed in w/ my Monday pix.

 

This bar is just outside the Casino, and several times the bears met up there for drinks.

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This was a place they expected you to pose in the Photo Gallery section.

 

We were out and about so early, there was no one around. . so OF COURSE I did.

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walking on Deck 12 above the pools.

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already some Bears out early at the adult pools.

 

We said our hellos and told them we'll be changing to swimsuits and back out later.

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our friend Marcella was already out by the pool.

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Kids play area.

 

(surpsingly, I don't have any pics of the Family pools, in the center of the ship. . at least not that i'm seeing)

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as was Ricky. . who wasn't really in the mood to be photographed from the deck above. . LOL

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Liberty has added a Mini-Golf on the front of the ship on Deck 13!

 

They didn't seem to be advertising it very well, as it never seemed to be crowded.

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it even has a bus!

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View when standing on the Golf course.

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View back at the Golf course while standing at the front.

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Selfie while waiting for ice show to start

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the show was good, but some of the costumes were a bit cheesy

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THIS GUY was amazing

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Impressive they were able to do this on a ship ice rink! (and that would later be our dance floor)

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All dressed up for formal night

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outside Giovanni's

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Neal, Marce, and Adric all dressy at our table

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Marce, Eric (one of the guys I met who lives closeby) and Anjeanne on first Formal night.

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Marcella has changed and is ready for the white party.

 

heloooooo Nurse!

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me at the white party

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and with flash. . LOL

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Look down at the dance floor (that used to be the ice rink). It's early, but it will fill up.

 

DJ Marcos is back there on the left spinning.

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After I "gifted" my lights to Marce. . think they look better with her outfit anyways

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we are ALL made of stars

 

(seriously, the lights hit us JUST right when we took this pic!)

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Starting to fill up!

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and more folks in costume rather than just "white" are showing up. . .but everyone looked great anyways.

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found this as part of someone else's photos, and isolated myself. . . LOVE it. "Horns in profile"

 

Especially the "glowing" straw I got from Eric's hubby, Mike.

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dang, we are a good looking couple! :)

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Ultra Nate' -- from the FRONT Row.

 

those shoes. . those take some skill to balance in.

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D-VAH !

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Edited by bert425
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FYI - Don't worry too much about only having a bank of elevators and stairs at each end of the ship. During an actual emergency they open up all of the crew stairwell and elevators and there are some in the middle sections.

 

Great TR so far, keep it up!

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This report is exactly the shot in the ass the forum needs right now.

 

Seriously, great start. I'm not a cruise dude by any means but enjoying this TR, Bert. :thumbsup:

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Thanks everyone!

 

I'm working on day 3 (sea day, Red/Hats) and hope to have it up by end of day.

 

Meanwhile, I remembered we DID get a pic at the pool from Day 2 -- a professional RCCL pic of us in the hot tub.

 

(we had a lot of OBC, so went ahead and bought it, for ~$20. . it's a good pic, we thought!).

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it's a James Brown Hot Tub party!

 

(tho pretty impressive he was able to get just us, with how many folks were in there with us)

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Loving the trip report so far! I want to go backkkkkkkk!

 

Btw loved your friends in the Love & Marriage game, we wanted them to win!

 

thanks.

 

LOL, we wanted them to win too! "Stanley!"

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about to post Day3, but for those wondering about Ultra Nate' (pronounced Ultra Na-tay), she's a disco diva known for doing HIGH NRG remakes of songs. . who might be best known for being part of "Stars on 54" from the film:

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

 

tho her cover of "Automatic" is incredible too:

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

 

as are some of her original songs such as her dance megahit "free":

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]
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Day 3 (Sea Day)

 

Once again, despite having gone to bed fairly late, I was up rather early. Nick, having taken some pain meds, was still out.

 

I laid in bed for a bit but was up, and eventually I heard some talking out on the balcony -- because we had opened up the Balcony dividers, I was hearing conversation between Marcella & Marg (from rooms on either side of us) chatting. They were talking about going to get food, and since I wanted Nick to sleep in, in hopes he’d be feeling better, I went out on the balcony and asked if I could join them. Leaving Nick sleeping, Marce, Neal, Marg, and myself went up to the Windjammer for breakfast.

 

I ended up not eating a big meal, but that’s not because I wasn’t hungry, but rather because the majority of what I took from the various options I simply didn’t care for. Most of it was overcooked/dried out (the prepared eggs and the pancakes, in particular the banana ones - I guess from being on the buffet line too long?), or simply didn’t taste very good (some of the various sausage options). By far, I think the best thing I has was some Eggs & Peppers that I added some spicy refried beans to.

 

to be fair, both Marce and Neal suggested I go into the “fresh Omelet” line, and they both said theirs from that was good. . . but honestly, the amount of folks shoving and pushing, and cutting in line, just put me off and I had no desire to get back into main buffet line just for that!

 

I’m sure I’m not saying anything that many other folks who have been to a Cruise Ship buffet have said, but it’s still fairly amazing to see these people turn into animals, as if they have never seen a muffin before.

 

So I ate the “good” stuff I took on my 1 trip around Windjammer, and was happy with my coffee, when Neal said I had to try the Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. . and ok, he was correct on that! Well worth the trip up there, even if just going to the “bar” section in the front of the Windjammer, just to get the Fresh Squeezed OJ. . so I absolutely recommend doing THAT. But eating there?. . um. . no thanks, I’ll stick with getting up early and having my overcooked Eggs Benedict in the MDR, if I must have Breakfast!

 

We finished up, and it was still fairly early, so we wandered down to the Casino, I think, and we played around on the slots for a bit. I had lost some $$ in my favorite (Wheel of Fortune) yesterday, and continued to drop another $60 or so. . . . but I knew we wanted to play more later this evening, so didn’t want to blow thru all of my budgeted casino cash so early.

 

I figured I’d better head back to the room to check on Nick and see if he was awake yet, as it was almost 10:30.

 

I stopped at the Front Desk to use the phone to call up to the room to see if he was up. He was up and wondering where I was (oops), and asked if I could bring him coffee?

So we stopped into Café Promenade and I picked up a couple of White Chocolate Lattes (those things were addictive, and I’m sure most of the weight I gained on this trip was from 3-4 of these every day) and we all headed back up to the rooms to get ready for the group photo shoot that was scheduled on the Helipad for 11:30.

 

Nick wasn’t feeling great, but he was willing to get out and he *wanted* to make the group picture. The Helipad is only reachable via steps up from deck 4 (I think?) so I knew he was going to struggle, and making it worse was that the wind had really kicked up, and on our way to the helipad, we were told by security that they were about to close it because it was becoming unsafe (and to be fair, it WAS really, really windy).. . but I told the security guy we were scheduled for a photo shoot, and he called someone on his walkie, and then waved the whole group we were with up the steps to the helipad on the front of the ship. Luckily there are benches all around the landing site, so tho he fussed at me, I forced Nick to sit at one, while I socialized and they got ready to take the group pic (taken from photographers that were safety harnessed in on a walkway 6 decks above us).

 

The end result was that when they were ready to take the picture, Nick and I were near the front of the group, since I had made him stay on a bench until it was time to actually take the pic.

 

I’m not sure everyone in our group made it to the photo shoot. . there are most certainly a lot of folks in that pic (we cover the whole helipad!). . but it doesn’t look like 300+ to me. . so maybe some folks slept in? were at the pool? Or thought the helipad was closed and the photo cancelled due to wind? Either way, we got some great pics for Arno’s group!

 

After the official pics were taken, most of the crowd dispersed, and we hung out for a bit taking pics at the front of the ship, and then we headed back to the rooms to get our Red Hats. . .because it was going to be Red Hat Day at the pool!

 

Nick had been feeling so rough last night, and only so-so this morning, so he didn’t want to swim. But we were gonna go socialize at the pool (and there’s a bar right there, the Solarium bar, with tacky LED stars in the roof). So we put on Mom’s hats, and headed up to the pool. We found Nick a lounger, in the sun, and I wandered around a bit visiting and taking pictures.

 

I got us Mai-Tai’s, Mom’s favorite drink, and together with the Canadians (also wearing Mom’s hats that I had brought for them), we toasted to Mom.

 

Nick only had a sip, and that really was the last alcohol he had on the trip, as he had decided the alcohol was making the flares worse, so he stuck to coffees, lattes, and sodas for the remainder of the time. Kinda a waste of $$, but I guess he has to listen to what his body is telling him.

 

Ultra Nate’ was hanging out by the pool with the group, and everyone was being cool and leaving her alone (I stopped by for just a moment to say hello and tell her how much I had enjoyed her performance last night, and she asked me if I was going to the meet & greet cocktail hour later (I told her I was)).

 

Because there were so many red hats, it was obvious there was a theme going on, and there were some lookie-loos from above again (including some photo taking), but for the most part everyone seemed to be having a good time. The pool and pool area was busy, as were the Hot Tubs – at first the Bears had only migrated to the tub on the left of the pool, and the one on the right was mostly straight couples, but by this time (2nd sea day), the bear soup had spread, and basically the entire Adult pool area was bear-topia, with small pockets of straight-landia scattered here and there. That’s fine, we don’t bite. . play nice and everyone has fun 

 

I went over to the swings in the “quiet area” by the spa (after mistakenly finding the steam room. . . .the door said “men only” so I assumed it was the bathroom! Only to open up the door and be confronted by a half dozen butts going into the steam room. . LOL), and Nick and I sat down with Anjeanne to swing, chat, and watch the water go by. We were well out of the gulf at this point, so the sea had calmed down, and it was very nice sailing.

 

Anjeanne mentioned she was doing a wine tasting that afternoon (something several folks at our MDR table had signed up for and did a couple of times during the trip), but also mentioned she was hungry, since she had skipped breakfast. Nick, too, hadn’t eaten anything today yet, so I suggested since we were on the pool deck anyways, let’s go up a level and go to Johnny Rockets for lunch and Milkshakes (or Malts).

 

We knew it was still lunch time, and they would be crowded, but Anjeanne still had nearly an hour and ½ before the wine tasting, so we checked in at the podium (told a 20 minute wait), and I went to visit with some of our group who were at a table outside, and looked like they had finished eating. . . they actually hadn’t even been served the mains yet, and said they had been sitting for over 45 minutes. . .but that the Onion Rings and cheese fries had come out right away, so they weren’t too upset. I went back and mentioned this to Anjeanne, and she told the lady at the podium that she had a wine tasting in just over an hour, so hopefully she’d make it (the look the lady gave her said pretty much everything. . sheesh).

 

an inside table opened up after only ~10 minutes or so, and the folks on the list before us all wanted to sit outside, so we took it and went in and the waiter came over fairly quickly. He explained the $6.95 cover charge, and the extra charges for the Shakes/Malts. . which was fine, we were expecting that and besides, still had lots of OBC as it was only the 2nd sea day.

We very clearly explained to him that Anjeanne had to leave in ~an hour, and so please DO NOT hold for the whole table, bring out hers first. He said he understood, and went back to the kitchen with our orders for Fries/Rings, Malts/Shakes, and burgers.

 

About 6 minutes later, the plates of fries, and rings came out, along with some water, and we munched on those, and visited. And we waited.

 

And waited.

 

And about 20 minutes later the Shakes came out, and I asked the waiter about the food, and reminded him not to hold the whole table for service, to please bring Anjeanne her burger as soon as it was ready. . .he nodded OK, and then disappeared. I mean like went on break for 20 minutes, not to be found in the restaurant, disappeared.

 

So we’re sitting and waiting, and still waiting, and getting annoyed, but realizing that it’s still technically lunch time, and they are crowded. So trying to give the benefit of the doubt, and then the waiters all stop what they are doing, and line up in front of the diner counter between the counter and the booths. I said to the waiter in front of us (not OUR waiter). . . “are y’all going to dance?”

 

Yep. . they danced. ..to an extended mix of “I feel love”. . . it was cute, and it was fun watching some of the kids get up and dance in the line with them to the moves, but we commented to ourselves, “no wonder this is taking so dang long. .they’re stopping to dance!” I mean. . literally EVERY waiter, no food was being served during the song.

 

And it finishes, and everyone claps, and then. . . they go outside onto the deck, and a Bee Gees song comes on (Staying Alive?), and they dance again, this time for the folks out in the deck booths. . sheesh.

 

At this point, we’d been in the place for over an hour and 20 minutes, and Anjeanne had to go. She looked for our waiter in vain, and couldn’t find him, so she got up to the front podium lady, and animatedly talked to her up there for a few minutes. She came back and told us that she was upset she didn’t get to eat, but she had to go down to the wine tasting. Apparently, that is their “thing” that they take a really long time, and the guests expect it – or so she was told by the lady at the front.

 

So she said her goodbyes, and left. . . and literally AT THE SAME TIME, our waiter comes from the kitchen with the burgers for our table. Yep, all 3 of them at the same time.

 

I was pissed, and the waiter was very confused as to where “the lady” had gone. We told him he *just* missed her, and that we had asked him to bring her food out first, and that he had brought out the whole table’s orders is exactly the opposite of what we had asked him to do – several times. He just kept smiling at us. And then went up to the lady at the podium and spoke to her for a few minutes and came back and told us that Anjeanne had paid for the shake, and that the restaurant wouldn’t charge her the cover. (damn right they should not have).

 

I insisted that they box up her burger and I was going to take it with me – I’m sure it was going to get thrown out, as by the time she could eat it, it would be cold – there was simply no way I was going to bring a warm burger into a wine tasting and hand it to her filling the place up with Meat smells. . .LOL. . (but I loved the idea of maybe doing that).

 

So he boxed up her burger, and Nick and I sat and ate our burgers, and although yes, we did leave a small tip?. .he would have gotten a BIG tip (a very big tip) if he had just done as we asked and got her burger out first. Shame, as the food was pretty good.

 

Aside – we discovered the next day, at the port in Roatan, when we wanted shakes in late afternoon, even with literally THREE guests in the place, it still would take almost 2 hours to be served. So after that, we didn’t bother going back to Johnny Rockets.

 

After this hours plus “lunch” Nick and I headed back to the pool (where Anjeanne had left her stuff with Marg), to drop off her burger, and to visit a bit more with folks. I think we may have gone up to the mini-golf, after getting a cocktail for me, too.

 

We walked around the ship a bit more, and Nick was starting to get pooped, so we went back to the room, where we watched the sun-set from the balcony, and then I left him in the cabin to relax, while I headed down to the Star Lounge for the Meet & Greet with Ultra Nate at 6:30.

 

I had already talked to her at the pool to tell her how much I had enjoyed the prior evening’s performance, but it was still great to get some 1:1 time with her, and to get an autographed poster (she asked me which side I wanted signed, and I told her the bOObs side, of course!) and a pic with her. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

 

I hung out a bit with friends, and went into the promenade where I bumped into another gang of folks from our group, and joined them for a while chatting about stuff, before I had to head back to the cabin to meet Nick and change for our 8pm dinner. Most of the table had plans to dine at Chops (the upcharge steakhouse), but they were intending to do what we had done the night before and just join us at the table after for visiting. We had a couple of folks join us when they saw the empty seats, and it worked out pretty well, since they all got so stuffed really only Marce came down to visit for coffee and desert.

 

She asked me if we were going to go to the Casino, since she wanted to play too, and so we headed over that way post dinner to gamble for a little bit. The Wheel of Fortune $1 machine bank (3 machines out of a bank of 5) had an opening, so I sat down, and after a few pulls, hit a wheel spin, and got $500. That made me pretty happy, because it basically was almost all the $$ I had brought to gamble with, so I cashed that sucker out and guaranteed I was going home with pretty much what I had come with and I’d be able to play thru the rest of what I had brought later on.

 

Not sure how Marce and Nick did, but we played for a bit, before Nick was ready for bed, so I think we all at least got our enjoyment out of playing. And that’s really how I approach it: I’m paying to play a video game, and if I happen to win some money back, great. But if not, I’m just paying for the fun. . .that’s why we push the 1 credit over and over until getting to the max, and then pull the lever (instead of just hitting the max credits button that bets and spins). I’m playing for fun, and the other way is just too darn fast.

 

I didn’t argue with Nick about how it was relatively early, since I knew he’d had a rough 48 hours, so I went back to the room with him and told him I was wide awake – couldn’t have been all those White Mocha Lattes, could it???

 

There was a function happening this evening called “Bears on the Balcony” where a large number of the balcony dividers had been opened between a bunch of the cabins from people in our group. . .so folks could mix and mingle in a cabin that wasn’t really intended for that many folks. I told Nick I wasn’t going to attend that (and I didn’t), not because I didn’t think it wouldn’t be fun, but because I didn’t want to go into a party of Bears without Nick (lol. . he gets jealous, ain’t that sweet?). . . Besides, there was no bar there.

 

So instead I headed down to the promenade to wander around and promptly found a group of guys I had been chatting with earlier at the pool (including Eric/Mike from Austin, and Brian and his hubby), and hung with them for a bit, before deciding to go back to the Casino to play more Wheel.

 

I hit a few things, including a few big triple pay lines of a few hundred each, and a wheel spin for $400. It was past Midnight, but I was still wide awake, and at this point was up over $1200 (and basically playing on RCCL’s money).

 

I wasn’t ready to go to bed yet, so I went over to the “pusher” machines, where you drop quarters, and try to get them to “push” the coins towards the front, to drop down into the tray for you. In addition to the quarters, there were some $10s and $20s on top of the coins too, so a chance to win those. These are sucker games, there’s no way to win big on them, but they are great time wasters, so I decided I’d play this for a bit to try and get one of those $20s.

 

Long story short, 1 ½ hours later, I had the $20. . it only took me $60 in quarters to get the $20, but I got it, and still had $10 in quarters. . so only cost me $30 overall for a lot of enjoyment 

 

and as a bonus, while playing the pusher in the casino at 2am, I saw Robbie and Tim (the neighbors from 3 doors down) and we started talking about Roatan in the morning. I told them we weren’t going to be doing an excursion, and had just planned on shopping in the port. They also weren’t going to be doing an excursion and asked if we were interested in shopping/hanging out together. I said yes, and we arranged to meet at 8:30am.

 

When I got back to the room, Nick was awake and had been getting angry I was still out, but when I showed him how much cash I had come back with, he quickly got happy. I told him about the plans for Roatan w/ the neighbors, and we turned in to get ready for our 1st port of call in the morning.

 

Next: Roatan.

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Looking up at the overhanging Hot Tub from our balcony

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view of the 3 balconies with the dividers opening (by the next day, we'd have the next 2 open, connecting us with Gerald and Robbie/Tim)

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hallway in early morning. . way too early to be up!

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the official group photo . . we filled the Helipad

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Where the photographers were for our group pic

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Nick and I on the Helipad.

 

My shirt is a little frog wearing red pants saying: "I am wearing little pants to hide my genitals. It is the LAW!"

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On the front of the ship

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Neal and Marce

 

(in their "I love you" and "I know" anime shirts)

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good pic on bow of ship.

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Red Hat day at the pool from Deck 12

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ooo. a lookie loo!

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our friend J. Devin

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Red Hat day AT the pool.

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Red Hat Day!

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yep. . Red Hat Day

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you say it's Red Hat Day? let me "pose" says Brian.

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did that last pose embarrass you hubby?

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Nick and I in Mom's hats (with Mai Tai post Toast in her honor)

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Christopher (he was joking that those speedos started out the day as plain white ones)

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Christopher is shy, can you tell?

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Marce

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Marce

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Neal

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Anjeanne

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Anjeanne. . once my favorite pics I've ever taken of her

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Robbie (neighbor 2 doors down)

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Fish are friends, not food!

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this is Arno, showing off his classy swimsuit. . yes, classy, that's ART right there (from Michelangelo's David).

 

(and yes, I checked with Elissa to make sure it was acceptable before posting this!)

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This is Mark. I was teasing him that his suit was so much bigger than it was the day before

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so the thought about it. . .

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and fixed it.

 

G-d bless America, long may she wave!

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it's a HAWT TUB Party (that's Sam's hubby who we went to dinner with last night in the center)

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Daintily getting into the Hot Tub.

 

(it's hot in there!)

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in Johnny Rockets, embarrassing Nick

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Sunset from our balcony

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Sunset from our balcony

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in Johnny Rockets, embarrassing Nick

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in Johnny Rockets, embarrassing Nick

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Looking up from outside the Star Lounge

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Meeting Ultra Nate'

 

(the folks behind me in the orange were my Bloody Mary buddies. .they were reliable that I could find them at one particular bar drinking Bloody Marys and I very much enjoyed talking to them).

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Marce coming down to dining room after her dinner at Chops for coffee.

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um. . yeah. . .remember i said our Housekeeping lady, Arlene was super nice but not too good at the towel animals?

 

a penguin? or maybe something dirty??

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my $400 spin on Wheel.

Edited by bert425
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Best. Towel Animal. Ever.

 

oh. . just wait.

 

there's a questionable "bat" coming.

 

 

she had a couple of good ones tho (maybe she had help those days?). . .I forgot to post the one from Day one, which wasn't bad (a two towel elephant)

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Absolutely loving this TR, Bert! It's a really fun read and I spent about 5 minutes laughing out loud about the swim suits and your comments. So very sorry to hear about your mother's sudden passing but I absolutely believe she was with you in spirit on the cruise. <3

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^ TY

 

I'm having a blast writing it up. .tho the Belize stop is a biggie, so that one will take me a while to get up.

 

posting Roatan momentarily tho!

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Day 4 (Roatan)

 

8:30 am after going to bed so late. . . sheesh, so early to meet to go ashore on a port day when we didn’t have an excursion, and were just planning on shopping. I woke up as we were starting to pull into the port. There were a couple of other ships (Carnival already docked further down the island, and another ship that was anchored and seemed to be doing Tenders) and I could see the dock with the RCCL flags, so I knew we were close. I grabbed a couple of pics, as we pulled in and then went and woke up Nick.

 

Although we were up in plenty of time to go grab food if we wanted, we weren’t that hungry and so didn’t bother with breakfast.

 

I went 3 doors down to Robbie/Tim’s room to knock. and no answer. Hurm. I told Nick they weren’t there, but since it was almost time we said we’d meet, we should get up, get dressed/brush teeth, and be prepared to go, and worst case, we’d go grab food if they didn’t show up.

 

We stepped out into the hallway to check one more time after getting dressed, and saw them coming back from their breakfast (or maybe Robbie had been doing Zumba in the Promenade, I think that nut did the class a number of times while we all slept in, LOL). They called out ‘hi’ and we exchanged good mornings, and chatted about how we were ready to get off the ship after 2+ days at sea, and we were now docked so we could.

 

I asked if they minded if we swung by Café Promenade to get some White Chocolate Mochas (yum), and so we headed down there and all of us got coffee and then headed down to deck 1 for exiting the ship. We got there, and there were giant signs about not taking anything off the ship, and trash cans already overflowing with coffee cups and water bottles.

 

We had just picked up, our still mostly full, coffees and I was perfectly willing to stand by the gangway to finish it, but chatty me decided to ask. So I went ahead and asked one of the Podium guys if it was OK if we took our coffees off with us? To my pleasant surprise, he said “sure”. .so we four walked off the ship onto the Roatan dock, carrying large White Chocolate Mochas (and getting death glares from many fellow passengers.. .hey. . never hurts to ASK if you can do something, they might surprise you and say yes!).

 

We posed for a pic with the official RCCL photographer (that I completely forgot we had done, until the last day, when we saw the pic – which was a bad one, so I was glad we had used our own camera as well, which came out as a pretty good pic), and then continued up the dock to take in the touristy stuff – such as the tanks full of fish to nibble on paying customers toes, and the stilt walkers (who were pretty impressive considering how windy it was).

 

There were several carts of very well made hand-crafted wood carved things, as well as weaved bags, and lots of clay chimes (Tim bought some as a gift). There were also several stores selling T-shirts and knick-knacks (we picked up a few shirts & magnets) as well as a store that was the Honduras version of Spencer’s gifts – full of fart jokes and inappropriate puns and innuendos on T-shirts (we didn’t buy anything here, but we did giggle at the inappropriateness of it).

 

there was a new store upstairs that had some absolutely gorgeous metalwork & wood carving, and I loved the carved door they were offering, but how the hell would I get THAT home? So we just browsed here, and watched a couple of folks do the zip-line that was across the port/harbor.

 

 

Tim was looking for some Neosporin, and the “Pharmacy” that was on the dock was out of it, so we decided we’d walk into town and try to get something to eat and see if we can’t find a drug store. We had heard that Roatan was a bit “rough” and although it definitely seemed to be a very poor (income wise) place, everyone seemed pretty friendly, and besides we were walking as a group of 4, so weren’t too concerned about being harassed. . tho we got a small taste of how pushy folks there can be when we stopped so someone could use the restroom (on the upper level of the port shops), and when I took a picture of he graveyard across the street in the back, suddenly we had a handful of people yelling up at us from across the street that they could take us places and give us tours.

 

We went down towards where the exit from the port was, and were just bulldozed by the pushy tour operators that were lined up on either side of the walkway, trying to get us to take a contracted ride with them to the Monkey jungle (looked like fun, but not everyone was interested, tho some on the ship that went there said it was quite fun), or really hard-selling us on an Island Tour, or pushing for a contract to take us to the “better” shopping area, about 20 minutes away.

 

We decided that we didn’t WANT to go to the “better” area, and preferred to just walk into town (and towards where the Carnival ships had docked – on the other side of town), and see if we could find a pharmacy, do some local shopping, and grab lunch. But man, was it a hard sell.

 

About this time, we bumped into Gerald (the gentleman in the room two doors down from us, and between us and Tim/Robbie). He asked us what our plans were and when we told him, he asked if he could join us on our walk (of course we said yes), and we headed thru the gauntlet of hard-sell tour operators, and out the gates to the port. . . where we were immediately surrounded by locals wanting to take us / drive us/ show us. . . it was a little unsettling, but really, all we had to do was say “no thank you” (a LOT) and keep walking. Gerald funnily asked pointed questions when someone would suggest we go somewhere to eat, and he was correct in that it ALWAYS turned out to be a friend of the guy, or the person was being paid to tell people to go to a certain shop or restaurant. So that was amusing.

 

Two other amusing things:

 

1) the port where we landed? The town is called “Coxen Hole”. . . . ok, that really made us all chuckle.

 

And

 

2) although on the Dock, there was very little English, everyone was speaking mainly Spanish (luckily I had 4 years of College Spanish, and I live in Texas, so I was able to understand the vast majority, although I’m by no means fluent. .but I can get by). But funnily enough. . the moment we stepped thru the gates of the port? EVERYONE spoke English. . . almost no Spanish at all.

So basically, the folks on the dock speaking Spanish only? A put on for the white tourists coming off the ship, to show how they are now in an exotic land, I guess. . . LOL.

 

Anyways, we did ask someone where was a pharmacy (to get the Neosporin), and he directed us to the right towards town, and said it was “close”. He ended up walking with us and chatting with us the whole time, he just would not leave us alone, although he made Nick a little nervous, he didn’t really bother the rest of us. Of course, our version of “close” is not the same as the Honduras version of “close” and we walked for quite a long time. . something I was concerned about, as Nick was getting over-exerted, and I didn’t want to bring on a flare. But we kept stopping to do some shopping, to pick up shirts, or look at some beautiful mosaic mirrors (again, how would I get it home tho??).

 

Interestingly, majority of the little flea-market areas and shops were selling almost the exact same stuff that had been for sale on the dock – but for about 40% cheaper! And the local business owners were very nice, and I greatly enjoyed chatting with them, even if a lot of it was hard sell. I did end up buying a great shirt that was similar in material to a Guayabera, but had a collar that looked like I worked in an Asian restaurant. Very cute, tho I haven’t worn it yet.

 

The guy walking with us kept saying the Pharmacy is “right up there” but as we kept walking, it seemed to remain just “right up there”. So we walked a lot. As I said tho, we stopped quite a bit to look into other stores – for example the tire store seemed to be selling drug-store type stuff (tho not what we were looking for), so it was a very interesting experience, tho I don’t think any of us bothered to pull out our phones/cameras for pictures. . it just seemed inappropriate, due to the poverty in the areas we were walking thru. Again tho, everyone was nice, and it appeared that the national food of Roatan is grilled chicken, because EVERY restaurant we passed seemed to be featuring that.

 

Eventually, we got to the Pharmacy, which seemed to be combined with a bank, and had an armed guard that let us in so we could buy the Roatan version of Neosporin. Not sure how much it was, but I believe Robbie said it was a pretty good deal. And then we decided that we were really hungry and we had to find someplace to eat. We looked at a few places, but they just seemed way too “iffy”.

 

The guy that had been walking with us said there was a good (and safe) place to eat that we had passed, so we headed back towards the dock, and about ½ way there, we stopped in front of what looked like a small fishing dock next to a house, that had been converted into a bar of sorts. There were some folding tables, and a bunch of plastic chairs towards the back/ocean, and in the front they had built a small bar. . and there was a lady hanging out there with a price card who claimed she gave the best massages in Roatan and that the people that worked on the ship came to her, instead of going to the spa on board, as she is that good. (we will never know, because we passed).

 

the guy working the bar, happily greeted us and pulled a long table over to the edge of the dock near the crystal clear water (so clear you could see all the beer bottles at the bottom. . LOL), and showed us the menu. We all ordered bottled water or soda, tho Gerald had a local beer, he said was good), and we were pondering the menu to decide if it was going to be safe to eat here or not. The bartender said it was safe, and the guy that had been walking with us since the port also said it was safe. . so we cautiously agreed we’d give it a shot, after all, what’s the worst that could happen? We gave the guy who had walked with us (and who was still hanging around the table) a few bucks and he went away, and as we were about to order, a van driver came in with a group of 10-12 Tourists – which gave us complete confidence at this point the food would be safe to eat, since some of the local tours stop here.

 

the food was gooooood. A could of guys had the fried shrimp plate, and Myself and a couple of others had the fried shrimp & fried Conch plates. The bartender said they were all fresh caught from today, and they really did taste fresh. They came with some Plantains (very good), cole slaw (eh), rice and beans (that was bit undercooked and under flavored to my tastes, but no one else really ate them either), but the batter and the seafood was excellent. There was an odd thing that the bartender did, in that he mixed on a plate, Ketchup, Jalapeño juice, and something else into a “dipping sauce” (and he did this for every table that came in after us too). . it was an odd flavor. . not “bad” . . just odd. They didn’t cook on site, and in fact, when we asked him where the kitchen was, he pointed to the house across the street – he had been running the plates across the street to us! And the food was safe to eat, none of us had any issues that evening or the next day, so we chose well 

 

So we sat, and ate, and rested from our long walk, and watched the ship at the dock, as well as the fisherman who had pulled up at the house next door and was cleaning some giant fish (they looked like Red Snappers).

 

Before we left, the Bartender came over and gave us souvenirs - some paper money from Roatan, that he autographed. Someone (Gerald?) asked out of curiosity, how much the bills were worth. The answer? American 2 cents. . . LOL

 

After eating, we decided to head back to the ship, so took the 20 minute or so walk back, posed for a few pics on the dock, and headed back on board.

 

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. . . but I believe we all went and hung by the pool for a while, and then we (including Gerald & Tim/Robbie) decided to try Johnny Rocket’s again, since Milkshakes sounded good (as noted yesterday, yeah, it took almost 2 hours with almost no one in there, so we didn’t’ bother going back again after this). . but the waiter DID talk us into eating more, since we had paid the cover..so we got kinda stuffed. We probably went back to the Solarium Bar to mingle and visit a bit with folks.

 

and then I think we just relaxed until dinner.. . maybe going down to Schooner bar and discovering that Eric/Mike, Brian/hubby, and few others had been playing trivia, and I think tonight was the 1 hit wonders version – so I helped them (and anyone sitting by them, since I talk loud. .LOL) “cheat” because I’m like a music encyclopedia, and was the only one in the crowd who got Midge Ure “If I was” and Simple Minds “Belfast Child” among other things. I ended up helping out again on 70’s Disco night too, but that was basically a gimme since the only CD the ship seemed to have to pull songs from was the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack. . . . Folks take their trivia seriously, but cmon. . . it’s all in fun. . tho the woman hosting the disco night tried to claim that “I’m Coming Out” was Donna Summer. . I shut her down.. you do NOT tell a bar (where there are two full teams of gay bears) that Donna Summer did a Diana Ross song! (evil grin)

 

I think I might have also stuck my head into the main show tonight too, and found it to not be to my taste (it was a Vegas entertainer, who was doing “impressions” if you want to put it kindly of other’s songs. He was basically a cover band, and not a very good one.. so I didn’t hang around too long in there.

 

Then we ran off to dinner, tho we really did not eat heavy this night, it had been a heavy eating day. After dinner, we cooked up a plan to go see the “Love and Marriage” show. Anjeanne had really hit it off with the gentleman who had been sat as the 8th person at our table on night 1 (Marc). . or as we took to calling him Marci, after he told us the story of how someone who had never seen Mark spelled with a “c” and had referred to him as Mar-see. . . they hit it off so well, Anjeanne and Marc were sharing food, wine, and feeding each other at the table, and were referring to themselves as Cruise Hubby and Cruise Wife (really should have been “Dear Husband” and “Dear Wife” if they wanted to fit in with the older cruisers. . LOL.

 

Anyways, we all thought it would be a hoot if they could get chosen to participate, as they are both super outgoing, and funny as hell.. and wouldn’t it have been great if Anjeanne had answered the question “what is your Husbands’ most annoying habit” with “he keeps sleeping with guys!”. . . would have been brilliant!

 

But we were sitting too far back, and the outgoing duo got uncharacteristically quiet when they were trying to choose a couple that had been together for less than a year, and they got overlooked.

 

When they tried to pick someone who had been married for ~15 years tho, Marcella and Neal were one of the 3 couples that volunteered, and they had a “kiss off” at the front of the stage – and Neal went for it.. so they got picked.

 

No Bears really stayed to watch other than our small group who knew Marce/Neal, since the Cruise Director didn’t bother picking a same sex couple for any of the 3 slots. . there were volunteers, but he didn’t even acknowledge them. . oh well.

 

Marce and Neal didn’t win, but they did come up with some good answers! And I guess the show was entertaining enough, tho I thought it could have been a bit more racy – they SAID it was for adults, but there were certainly some children in the audience, and so the host kept it PG-13, preferring not to even read out some of the answers.

 

By the time the show was over, we were exhausted, having gotten up so early. And we knew we had the Belize excursion to the Mayan Ruins in the morning (and Belize is a tender port)..so it was going to be a full day. So this is the one night, we all turned in a bit early (ie: before midnight).

 

Next up: Belize and Cahal Pech ruins

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coming up to Roatan, I look out and see another ship already anchored off shore, and doing Tendering.

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and off in the distance, going to the other side of the Island is a Carnival ship.

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passing by the anchored ship to get to the dock

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looking towards the front of the ship, as we are starting to align w/ the dock

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lined up at the dock and looking towards the back of the ship at Roatan

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Getting off the ship with our White Chocolate Mochas!

 

(all it took was asking if it was OK)

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Posing w/ the Roatan sign (with our Mochas). .

 

Seriously, our pic, with our camera came out so much better than the "official" one, I'm glad we asked Tim to take a pic for us!

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Nick on the dock

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loved that Green waterslide on the ship. .that was the winner.

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This sign was in one of the stores. They KNEW the Bears were coming!

 

LOL

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Like I said, they knew we were coming :)

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The Cemetery across the street from the port

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Looking out at the other side of the harbor. . most all of those cars are from the "tours" the locals want to take you on.

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at lunch, Nick, Robbie, Tim

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Gerald at lunch

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The crystal clear water just off the dock where we were eating

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the hand carved door I really liked from one of the shops on the dock

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Headed back onto the ship with the port shops behind us (you can see that zip line on the left)

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Headed back onto the ship with Roatan behind us.

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"artsy" shot that Gerald took. . almost laying on the floor to get it.

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last look back at the shops before boarding. . . :(

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Marce and Neal (in the center) in the Love and Marriage game.

 

they didn't win, the couple on the left - married for 4 days won.. . . with the answer to "strangest place they have had sex" (they were a couple who met in Bible camp. . so of COURSE the answer was "on a cruise ship" tho they specified "in the shower on a cruise ship").

 

Oh well. . fun enough, but not something hysterically funny as had been promoted.

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Tonight's Towel animal. . what is it?

 

A dog-pig Island of Dr Moreau type thing????

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Hanging out by the pool.. . not as busy today, as lots of folks went on a Catamaran/Snorkeling excursion with Arno

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